Bottle carriers and method of fabricating same

ABSTRACT

A strap style cellular carrier for bottled beverages, or like articles, which is formed from an elongate paperboard blank and a method of fabricating the same in collapsed condition which is characterized by cutting the blanks from a continuous web of stock material, which may be printed on the outside face, with the blanks extending lengthwise in the long direction of the web and nested laterally so that continuous lines of heat activatable adhesive may be applied to the inside faces of the blanks which adhesive lines will traverse nested handle and center partition forming panels extending from the top forming side wall margin at one side of adjoining blanks and nested bottom forming panels extending from the bottom forming side wall margins at the opposite sides of the blanks, thereafter activating the adhesive only on the areas of the handle and partition forming panels which are to be adhered to each other and finally folding the blanks while they are advanced in a continuous stream without the need for timing or indexing the individual blanks thereby enabling continuous high speed travel of the carriers during fabrication and high volume production with minimum material.

nite :tates 1 Arneson tet [191 [54] BOTTLE HERS AND METHOD OF FABCATTNG SAME [75] inventor: Edwin L. Arneson, l-lillsdale, NJ.

[73] Assignee: Federal Paper Board Company, llnc.,

Montvale, NJ.

[22] Filed: Aug. 10, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 62,360

[52] US. Cl. .220/115, 220/113, 229/52 BC, 229/D1G. 9 [51 lint. Cl. ..B65d 75/00 [58] Field of Search ..220/1 13, 114, 115; 229/52 BC, 229/28 BC, D10. 9

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,537,615 1/1951 Arneson ..229/52 BC 2,460,229 1/1949 Lebold ..220/l13 3,576,274 4/1971 Stramaglia... ..220/l 13 2,578,174 12/1951 Crane ..229/52 BC 2,887,245 5/1959 Levkoff... ..229/28 BC 2,389,318 11/1945 Lebold ..220/1 13 Primary Examiner-Joseph R. Leclair Assistant ExaminerStephen Marcus Attorney-Guy A. Greenawalt and James T. FitzGibbon i [5 7 AfiSTRACT A strap style cellular carrier for bottled beverages, or like articles, which is formed from an elongate paperboard blank and a method of fabricating the same in collapsed condition which is characterized by cutting the blanks from a continuous web of stock material, which may be printed on the outside face, with the blanks extending lengthwise in the long direction of the web and nested laterally so that continuous lines of heat activatable adhesive may be applied to the inside faces of the blanks which adhesive lines will traverse nested handle and center partition forming panels extending from the top forming side wall margin at one side of adjoining blanks and nested bottom forming panels extending from the bottom forming side wall margins at the opposite sides of the blanks,

thereafter activating the adhesive only on the areas of the handle and partition forming panels which are to be adhered to each other and finally folding the blanks while they are advanced in a continuous stream without the need for timing or indexing the individual blanks thereby enabling continuous high speed travel of the carriers during fabrication and high volume production with minimum material,

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and an improved method of fabricating the same from foldable sheet material.

- In the marketing of bottled beverages and similar products, one of the most popular packaging arrangements has involved the use of cellular cartons designed to hold a group of the articles, generally six or eight in material such as paperboard or the like and which are supplied in collapsed condition to the bottling works where they are opened up and filled with the bottles for delivery to retail stores or the like. Such carriers, which are in the form of hand carried compartmented baskets consisting of two rows of bottle accommodating cells separated by a combination handle and partition member, have been designed generally so that they may be set up or opened up and loaded with bottles from the top. The most commonly used basket type carriers have been designed for fabrication from a single integral blank with side and bottom wall panels integral so as to avoid any weakness in the bottom wall which could result from a poor bottom seam formation. Also, the present bottle carrier structures which have the cells divided by cross straps are folded and glued on equipment which has a timed blank feed with the blanks being advanced by lugs or pins on chains past a glue station where a predetermined pattern of adhesive is applied for securing the portions of the carrier together which are required so that when opened up it assumes the open top cellular tray-like structure desired. The infeed is timed and the lug spacing is arbitrary without regard to the blank length. This results in a much lower rate of production and higher gluing costs than wouldresult if cartons could be fabricated on a straight line gluing machine. However, straight line gluing machines arelimited in that the adhesive pattern can only be applied parallel to the direction of blank travel through the machine and for the entire length of the blank. Thus, it is impractical to use such equipment when it is necessary to apply a strip of adhesive on a blank at right angles to the direction of blank travel. A general object of the present invention is to design a strap type bottle carrier which mayv be produced with maximum economy of material, which is more readily assembled with the desired groups of bottles, and which is adapted to be fabricated on a high speed continuous straight line gluing machine so as to make possible a higher volume production than heretofore obtainable with prior designs of this style carrier.

A more particular object of the invention is to provide a cellular bottle carrier which may be fabricated from roll stock of paperboard or similar foldable sheet material with minimum waste and with the blanks for the carrier so designed that fabrication of the carriers is possible on high speed continuous feed straight line gluing machines which do not require timing of the feed or indexing of the blanks but permit continuous flow thereof at relatively high speeds during the application of adhesive and the folding of the blanks into collapsed carrier forming condition.

number, which are fabricated from foldable sheet 7 Another object of the invention is to provide an improved cellular bottle carrier wherein a plurality of the blanks for forming the same are cut from continuous roll stock and the blanks are designed with handle and partition forming panels extending from one side of the blank and bottom forming panels extending from the other side of the blank which are nestable with like panels on an adjoining blank so that pairs of the blanks may be nested crosswise of roll stock with the long dimensions of the panels extending in the lengthwise direction of the stock and enabling continuous lines of heat activatable adhesive to be applied in the lengthwise direction of the stock so that they will traverse handle and partition forming panels of adjoining blanks were they are nested and also bottom forming panels of adjoining blanks where the latter are nested which permits the folding of the blanks and activation of the adhesive for forming the collapsed carries on a straight line gluing and folding machine of the type commonly in use in the carton industry.

A still more specific object of the invention is to provide a cellular bottle carrier of the cross strap style which is fabricated from a blank cut and scored to permit nesting in paired relation with either the handle and partition forming panels or the bottom forming panels on adjoining blanks being nested so that straight line adhesive areas may be applied in continuous lines which traverse the respective handle and partition, and the bottom forming panels on the paired blanks.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the carrier and the method of forming the same which is shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a bottle carrier in fully set up condition with the bottles removed therefrom;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the carrier shown in FIG. 1 in its completely fabricated form but in the flattened collapsed condition in which it is supplied to the users;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the carrier in the set up condition in which it is adapted to be applied to a group of bottles, the bottom panels being open and extending in the plane of the side wall panels;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the layout for cutting blanks for fabricating the carrier of FIG. 1, with the blanks being nested and arranged for maximum production from roll stock of a standard width which enables lines of blanks four wide to be cut therefrom; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating the manner in which the blanks are fed through a straight line gluing and folding machine for continuous fabrication thereof.

Referring first to FIG. 4, there is illustrated an arrangement wherein a plurality of identical blanks B may be cut from paperboard roll stock of standard width on a roll fed die cutting machine or press. The blanks B, each of which is adapted to form the carrier C shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, are especially designed to provide a highly satisfactory bottle carrier structure for single trip use and to permit blank formation from a continuous web with maximum use of material and with the blanks arranged therein in a special nested relation enabling continuous application of adhesive strips in parallel relation extending lengthwise of the web and traversing the nested portions of the pairs of blanks so as to provide for the adherence of the desired portions of each blank upon folding thereof with the use of minimum adhesive. Each of the blanks B is cut and creased to provide the required panels for the carrier C while at the same time permitting nesting in paired relation in the web so as to enable adhesive or glue lines to be applied continuously with maximum utilization of the glue areas. Thus in the web, as shown in FIG. 4, a pair of blanks with their handle and partition panels nested are cut in the center of the web, the longitudinal center line of the web being indicated at a-a, and each of these blanks has bottom wall forming panels nested in paired relation with bottom wall forming panels of a blank cut in the side margin of the web and forming a pair therewith. This results in the cutting of four lines of blanks from the web with minimum waste of material.

Each blank B is cut in an identical manner and only one blank B will be described in detail As shown, each blank B is cut in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the web to provide an elongate, generally rectangular strip bounded by longitudinal non-linear cutting lines and 11 and linear transverse cutting lines 12 and 13. Each blank B is subdivided by fold forming transverse crease or score lines 14 and 15 into three sections 16, 17 and 18. The section 16 constitutes one-half of an end wall in the set up carrier (FIG. 1). The sections 17 and 18 which are identical, except for lengthwise dimension at one end, are cut and creased in an identical manner to provide side wall panels 20, bottom wall panels 21 and combination longitudinal partition and handle panels 22. The blank section 17 also provides an end wall forming panel 23 which adjoins the transverse fold line 15 while the blank section 18 provides an end wall panel 24 of sufficient dimensions in the lengthwise direction of the blank for the end margin to overlap the margin of panel 16 at the other end of the blank and to connect with the same so as to form the other end wall in the set up carrier. The bottom wall forming panels 21 are separated from the side wall forming panels 20 in each blank section 17 and 18 by a longitudinally extending, crease or score line which defines a bottom side edge of the carrier when it is set up. The bottom forming panels 21 are offset in the direction of the length of the blank relative to the handle and reinforcing panels 22 at the opposite side of the blank and these panels 21 are spaced relative to each other in the direction lengthwise of the blank so as to permit nesting of the corresponding bottom forming panels 21 of the blank which is paired therewith in the layout shown in FIG. 4. The length of these panels 21 at the outside edge thereof which is indicated at X in FIG. 4 does not exceed one-quarter the over-all length of the blank so as to permit the nesting shown and to provide the spacing between the panels on each side of the blank which is desired to permit the proper glue activation in the straight line folding and gluing operation. A transverse score line 26 which is parallel with the score line 14 separates the side wall panel 20 from the end wall panel 23 in the blank section 17 while in the blank section 18 a like score line 26 separates the side wall forming panel 20 from the end wall panel 24.

The blank section 17 is cut and scored to separate the handle and partition panel 22 from the side and end wall panels 20 and 23 and to provide a pair of identical cross partition straps 27 and 28, which are adapted to hinge on transverse score lines 30, 31 and 32, these score lines being parallel with the score lines 14 and 26 and being spaced from each other and from the score lines 14 and 26 a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the bottles which the carrier is adapted to accommodate. The cross straps 27 and 28 are formed by cutting on the lines 33, 34 and 35, 36 with the cutting lines 33 and 36 being connected across the score line 31 and the cutting lines 34 and 35 having extensions 37 and 38 in the direction of the transverse score line 14 and a parallel score line 40 which is equidistant from the transverse score lines 26 and 15. A score line 41 extends transversely in line with the score line 30 between the cutting line 11 and the terminus of a small diagonal cutting line 42 which extends to the cutting line 34 defining the top edge of the cross strap 27. The small section of the blank which is bounded by the score lines 14 and 41 and cutting line 37, indicated at 43 in FIG. 4, constitutes a reinforcing member which in the set up form of the carrier (FIG. 1) is adhesively attached to the top of the adjoining end wall panel 16 to which it is hingedly connected on the score line 14, the hinge portion being indicated at 44. The score line 41 forms the hinge connection between the reinforcing panel 43 and the handle panel 22. At the other end of the blank section 17 the portion thereof which extends above the cutting line 38 and which is indicated at 45 forms an integral part of the handle section or panel 22 providing a connection to the handle section for the hinge 32 and remains in the plane of the handle section when the carrier is set up. The blank section 18 is cut and creased in the same manner as the blank section 17 to provide duplicate panel elements except for the dimensions of the end wall forming panel 24 in the longitudinal direction of the blank which is less than the corresponding dimension of the end wall panel 23 and greater than the corresponding dimension of the end wall panel 16. Each of the handle panels 22 is provided with hand hold or finger hold cutouts 46 as shown.

The nesting and paired relation which is shown in FIG. 4 permits the application of continuous straight adhesive or glue lines or stripes extending in the longitudinal direction of the web and laterally spaced, thereby providing each blank with adhesive in the areas it is desired to connect when the blanks are folded to form the carriers. Since the glue stripes or strips on each side of the longitudinal center line a-a of the web are identical with respect to spacing transversely of the web, only one set will be indicated by numerals. As show, continuous adhesive strips are applied to the inside face of the material which are indicated at 50, 52, 53, 54 and 55. The adhesive strips 50 and 52 traverse the handle portions 22 of the blanks extending along the outside margin of the web. The adhesive strips 53 and 54 traverse the nested bottom wall panels 21 of the pair of blanks which are at one side of the web. The adhesive strips 55 traverse the handle and longitudinal partition panels of the pair of blanks which are in the center of the web. In the subsequent folding of individual blanks to form the carrier in knocked-down or collapsed condition, substantially all of the adhesive in strips 55 and 56 is activated and utilized for securing the handle and longitudinal partition portions of the blank together. The portions of the adhesive strips 53 and 54 which extend across or along the outermost margins of the bottom forming panels 21 are utilized in securing the panels when the carriers are assembled with groups of bottles. The portions of these adhesive strips which extend across or along the bottom of the side wall panels 20 are in effect waste since they are not activated and are not necessary to the formation of the carrier.

The adhesive strips may be applied to the roll material during the printing operation or they may be applied at a later time, for example, when the material is unrolled and fed to a die cutting press for cutting out the blanks B. The application of continuous strips of the material, of course, permits high speed operation regardless of when it is applied.

The blanks B, when out from the web, may be stacked and fed continuously, as shown in FIG. 5, to the conveyor belts of a straight line gluing machine which is equipped with hot air nozzles for activating only those portions of the adhesive strips which are necessary for securing the handle and partition panels to each other when each blank is folded about the transverse score lines and 44, respectively, the blanks being fed to the folding area with the adhesive coated faces uppermost and provision made for applying a bottom glue strip to the outside or bottom face of the end wall forming panel 24 as indicated at 57 in FIG. 5. The areas within which the hot air nozzles operate to activate the adhesive are between the pairs of parallel lines as indicated at A in FIG. 5, the configuration of the blanks with the offset handle and bottom wall panels permitting the activating hot air to be concentrated on and confined to the desired areas without activating other areas in a straight line operation. The folding may be by plows or the like which permit high speed continuous operation.

The formation of the carrier blank in the configuration herein disclosed and the method of applying the adhesive strips has the advantage of enabling the blanks to be cut from a web with minimum wasteand also permits the activation of the adhesive strips and the folding of the blanks to be accomplished on a straight line operating machine without any need for indexing or spacing ,of the blanks and with a continuous folding thereof which permits high speed operation. In addition, the blanks are of minimum size and designed for application to a group of bottles from the top which facilitates assembly with the bottles and enables the carrier to be made with the cells of a smaller dimension, since no allowance need be made for loading fingers which are required when the bottles are loaded from the top, resulting in a tighter fit and a more compact package which can be competitive, both from a functional and an economic standpoint, with the wrap around style of bottle carrier or package provided for one way or no return bottles.

I claim:

1. A cut and scored paperboard blank for forming a collapsible cellular bottle carrier of rectangular shape which blank is in the form of an elongate, generally rectangular paperboard strip, said strip being divided by transverse hinge forming scores into an end panel which forms a part of one end wall of the carrier when set up and two adjoining side wall and center partition forming sections, one of said sections including a panel constituting the opposite end wall of said carrier to which the other one of said sections is integrally joined along one of said transverse scores and said other one of said sections having a panel at the free end which forms with the end wall panel at the opposite end of the blank said one end wall of the carrier, said side wall and center partition forming sections each having a bottom wall panel extending from one margin and a handle forming panel extending from the opposite margin, each said bottom wall panel being offset in the longitudinal direction of the blank from the associated handle forming panel in the opposite margin of said section and said bottom wall panels and handle panels each being separated from the corresponding panel on that side of the blank by a cut out area corresponding approximately in dimensions to the dimensions of one of the adjoining panels on that side of the blank, each said section having cross strap members cut therein in the area between the side wall and the handle forming panel which strap members are adapted to swing into transverse planes when the carrier is set up in open position for receiving bottles with the opposite ends of each strap connected on vertical hinge lines to the top of a side wall panel and the bottom of a longitudinal center partition panel.

2. A cut and scored paperboard blank for use in fabricating a collapsible cellular bottle carrier which blank is in the form of an elongate, generally rectangular strip of material, said strip being divided by transverse hinge forming scores into an end panel which forms a part of one end wall of the carrier when set up and two adjoining side wall and center partition forming sections, one of said sections including a panel for forming the opposite end wall of the carrier when set up, and the other one of said sections having a panel which co-operates with said end panel for forming said one end wall of the carrier, said side wall and center partition forming sectionseach having a bottom wall panel extending laterally from one margin and a'handleforming panel extending laterally from the opposite margin, each of said sections having cross strap members 'cut therein in the area between the side wall and the associated handle forming panel which strap members are adapted to swing into transverse planes when the carrier is opened up with the opposite ends of each strap member connected on hinge forming lines to the top of a side wall panel and the bottom of a longitudinal center partition panel, said side wall and partition forming sections having the bottom wall panels and the handle forming panels extending in spaced relation to each other along opposite side margins of the blank, said bottom wall panels being offset in the longitudinal direction of the blank relative to said handle forming panels, and said bottom wall forming panels of each blank being disposed in spaced relation along the side margin of the blank with the separating space of sufficient lateral and longitudinal dimensions to accommodate a bottom wall forming panel of an adjoining blank so as to permit nesting of bottom wall forming panels of adjoining blanks with said panels aligned longitudinally for application of adhesive in lines which extend in aligned relation in the lengthwise direction of the blanks. 

1. A cut and scored paperboard blank for forming a collapsible cellular bottle carrier of rectangular shape which blank is in the form of an elongate, generally rectangular paperboard strip, said strip being divided by transverse hinge forming scores into an end panel which forms a part of one end wall of the carrier when set up and two adjoining side wall and center partition forming sections, one of said sections including a panel constituting the opposite end wall of said carrier to which the other one of said sections is integrally joined along one of said transverse scores and said other one of said sections having a panel at the free end which forms with the end wall panel at the opposite end of the blank said one end wall of the carrier, said side wall and center partition forming sections each having a bottom wall panel extending from one margin and a handle forming panel extending from the opposite margin, each said bottom wall panel being offset in the longitudinal direction of the blank from the associated handle forming panel in the opposite margin of said section and said bottom wall panels and handle panels each being separated from the corresponding panel on that side of the blank by a cut out area corresponding approximately in dimensions to the dimensions of one of the adjoining panels on that side of the blank, each said section having cross strap members cut therein in the area bEtween the side wall and the handle forming panel which strap members are adapted to swing into transverse planes when the carrier is set up in open position for receiving bottles with the opposite ends of each strap connected on vertical hinge lines to the top of a side wall panel and the bottom of a longitudinal center partition panel.
 2. A cut and scored paperboard blank for use in fabricating a collapsible cellular bottle carrier which blank is in the form of an elongate, generally rectangular strip of material, said strip being divided by transverse hinge forming scores into an end panel which forms a part of one end wall of the carrier when set up and two adjoining side wall and center partition forming sections, one of said sections including a panel for forming the opposite end wall of the carrier when set up, and the other one of said sections having a panel which co-operates with said end panel for forming said one end wall of the carrier, said side wall and center partition forming sections each having a bottom wall panel extending laterally from one margin and a handle forming panel extending laterally from the opposite margin, each of said sections having cross strap members cut therein in the area between the side wall and the associated handle forming panel which strap members are adapted to swing into transverse planes when the carrier is opened up with the opposite ends of each strap member connected on hinge forming lines to the top of a side wall panel and the bottom of a longitudinal center partition panel, said side wall and partition forming sections having the bottom wall panels and the handle forming panels extending in spaced relation to each other along opposite side margins of the blank, said bottom wall panels being offset in the longitudinal direction of the blank relative to said handle forming panels, and said bottom wall forming panels of each blank being disposed in spaced relation along the side margin of the blank with the separating space of sufficient lateral and longitudinal dimensions to accommodate a bottom wall forming panel of an adjoining blank so as to permit nesting of bottom wall forming panels of adjoining blanks with said panels aligned longitudinally for application of adhesive in lines which extend in aligned relation in the lengthwise direction of the blanks. 